The Giant of Shareholders, Quietly Stirring

Susanne Craig a journalist for The New York Times getting a meet and greet with a top analyst exec at BlackRock the worlds largest asset corporation in the world. found here, interesting read, cheers.

From the article.

With almost $4 trillion under management, it is, according to a recent University of Michigan study, the single largest shareholder in one of every five United States companies

Once settled, Yumi Narita started describing the disappointing qualities of a big entertainment company she’d been checking out. “I’m inclined not to trust this compensation committee,” she told the group. “Year-over-year, they pay their C.E.O. more, and the metrics are often questionable.”

....how BlackRock will vote its clients’ shares in hundreds of contests, zeroing in on directors they feel have been around too long, or ones who they think are overpaying executives. These analysts have a language of their own, casually throwing around terms like “overboarding,” for when directors serve on multiple boards, possibly spreading themselves too thin; “engagement,” when a problem reaches a critical stage and merits a visit from a BlackRock analyst; and “refreshment,” when engagement doesn’t work and a director needs a heave-ho.

wap.nytimes.com...

Link to article needed please. I would like to read it for myself.

ETA: Thanks for the link.. It would seem that BlackRock is mainly a shareholder with a huge say in what companies do, how much they pay their CEOs, ect. what huge power they hold. Also, it looks like they are doing a decent job at it, with their ideas about limiting how many boards one can serve as well as the pay that they (CEOs) receive. I wish they would vote to pay some CEOs a lot less and then roll the rest to the workers. Thanks for the article.

Originally posted by Skada
Link to article needed please. I would like to read it for myself.

Apologies, fixed.

I don't flag often. This thread got one. Very good article, very important information.

We frequently talk about those unseen forces that drive the markets. This is one of those forces.

reply to post by bigfatfurrytexan


Cheers man,

Fascinating insight to how much of our corporate infrastructure can be broken down, managed and controlled with CEO titles being traded through the system much like a commodity. They are without doubt a super corporation that seemingly enjoys very little press, one can only speculate as to the power a shadow corporation like this can exert on markets and governments.